Oludare Mayowa
On Wednesday, May 29, President Mohammadu Buhari and 29 new state governors took the oath of office for the next four years in office.
While President Buhari was taking the oath for a second term in office, some of the 29 governors who took the oath were doing so for the first term, because they were taking over from those who had finished either their second terms in office or those not re-elected at the last elections.
Three governors fell into the categories of those who failed to get re-election for a second term in office, and they are Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos; Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State and Bidow Jibrilla of Adamawa State.
While Ambode was outright denied a second term by his party, the All Progressives Congress, the other two were rejected by the electors at the poll.
There are also about seven governors who have yet to complete their terms in office because their elections are conducted outside the regular ones.
For instance, the governors of Edo, Osun, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Kogi, Anambra and Ondo states are still on their first terms in office, except for the Bayelsa governor whose second tenure will expire early next year.
The import of the transition in government is that the Nigerian constitution provides for four years tenure for the president and governors, renewable for another term of four years at the end of which power must transit to another person.
The tenure arrangement ensures that no individual remains perpetually in office either as president or governor under the democracy dispensation.
The principle of democracy also ensures that the people have the power to either re-elect or reject a government that failed to meet the aspiration of the electors at every four years.
The examples in Bauchi and Adamawa, and to some extent Lagos State were indications of what the people’s power can achieve in a democracy.
However, the change in baton at the state level is also a lesson that power is transient and irrespective of who holds it, there is always an expiry date for each office holder.
Even though Nigeria has not been blessed with good leaders at both national and state levels, we have seen some semblance of activities and performances in some states by governors and a little bit of that at the federal level at some point in our history.
Love or hate him, the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo and that of Umaru Yar’Adua to some extent provided the country some breath of development. However, the two leaders, one is late now and the other still alive, failed to measure up to the expectations of the people and also fell short of maximising the opportunities they were provided with as leaders to impact positively the fortunes of the common man.
The period between 2009 and 2015 was largely regarded as a period of squandermania when the country generated huge resources from oil imports and yet had little to show for it. The administration of President Goodluck Jonathan could largely be remembered for the decision to transit power to President Buhari, a candidate of the then opposition party that wrested power from him, on a peaceful note.
He also failed to achieve much in terms of good governance and provision of basic infrastructure to accelerate development in the country.
The present administration seems to be tagging along the same path of non-performance and the dilapidation of basic values that used to guide our developmental plans. So, the government of Buhari has not inspired good feelings among the populace because of the widespread hunger in the land and lack of a properly conceived vision for a better tomorrow for the country.
Although the government was elected on the promises of anti-corruption, improved security and economic prosperity, none of the three areas has seen improvement, rather the economy is daily degenerating while the issue of insecurity has become widespread in the last four years.
The anti-corruption fight has been largely done on the pages of news media with little changes in the manner the country’s resources are being plundered by those in power.
In some states, the governors continue to see themselves as emperors and are out of control because those who were elected to provide checks and balances have turned themselves to the appendages of the state apparatus.
Government developmental focus has largely been on physical infrastructure rather than enduring policies on education, housing and agriculture which have a long term impact on the overall well-being of the people.
In Lagos, we have seen improvement in physical infrastructure, but that is where the story ends; the government has remained the most unaccountable to the people. It is easier for the camel to pass through the eyes of the needle than to extract information on the cost of projects executed from the state government and its agencies.
Beyond the issue of accountability in Lagos, nay other states as well, there are no deliberate plans for the development of education, health and provision of housing for the millions of people within the state.
The standard of education keeps falling in most public schools, creating rooms for the exploitative tendencies of the private sector operators who have turned the educational system to a money-making industry.
The health sector did not fare better as most government hospitals are not better than consulting edifices where the doctors prefer to refer patients to their private medical outfits where exorbitant fees are charged to procure health services.
Housing deficit keeps expanding yearly as a result of the failure of government at all levels to either provide direction for housing development or encourage individuals to own houses at affordable rates through an established mortgage system like it is done elsewhere.
The Land Use Act, which confers ownership on state governments, continues to hinder access to land ownership across the country apart from the issue of ‘omoonile’ syndrome which has also become epidemic and a nightmare for intending landowners.
In Ogun State, where Ibikunle Amosun was in the saddle of power for eight years, the rural dwellers and those on the fringes between Lagos and the state were neglected from his developmental projects throughout his tenure. While his government largely concentrated infrastructural development in the capital city and some adjunct towns, his focus of development was dominated by his vain focus on self-aggrandisement.
Most of the roads and bridges built in Ogun State in the last four years were done without consideration to their economic cost and benefit to the people.
Often, the methodology of the governments across the country is to offer some people patronage in lieu of development and corner the remaining resources for their own personal use.
For the country to move forward, there must be a paradigm shift in our approach to governance, where the people are made the central of development. The present system where power is concentrated on a few hands, who regard themselves as tin gods should give way to all inclusive governance where the inputs of the key representatives of the people are put into consideration in the formulation of policies for developmental purposes.
It is time to reduce the cost of governance so as to free more resources for developmental purposes and enhance the quality of life in the country. Government should concentrate development in areas that would yield more dividends for the people both now and in the future rather than embark on grandiose projects that only appeal to massage the egos of the persons in position of authority.
In the case of Ogun for instance, building overhead bridges in the capital city could only appeal to the ego of those in government and not in any way connected to the aspirations and expectations of the governed. The projected number of vehicular movement in the capital either now or in future is not commensurate with the investment in building bridges in the state capital and many other places in the state.
The government should also revisit the issue of humongous allocations for security votes, which are largely unaccounted for by the state chief executives. This practice was inherited from the military government who then devised the means to reward the top echelons of the military for being posted to juicy political offices which has continued to be abused by elected leaders under this democratic dispensation.
There should be a comprehensive review of our developmental plans to accommodate clear vision for a better future for the country in terms of the deployment of resources and manpower.
The whole world is gradually leaving us behind in terms of technological growth and deployment; Nigeria’s human resources are daily being poached by developed countries of the world, leaving our country on a large deficit of quality skilled manpower.
The best of Nigerians are being encouraged to migrate to Canada, Australia and even the United States for economic reasons while the mediocrities among us continue to dominate the political and perhaps, economic spaces.
It is also time for the people to rise up and demand quality representation in government and ask for accountability from those who they elect to govern the country. Without the input of the civil society and the populace at large, the country may continue to remain stagnant on same spot and the future may be a peril.
- Mayowa is a Lagos-based international financial journalist
[Punch]
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